Dylan's Passions

Dylan's Bio

Comfortable, sticky and snug fitting (for my B width feet). Easily packable for approaches/descents. Chunkier sand does have a tendency to get in at the cuff unfortunately. After about 20 days of use I'm fairly impressed with their durability. The canvas and the sides the EVA midsole do wear fast if you are rubbing them against abrasive rock or have an unexpected bushwacking adventure like I did..

The Alpha 2 is a really fun park and all mountain charger. I was looking for a park ski with either reverse camber (full length) or early rise tip and tail. There aren't many out but it came down to the Alpha 2 and Moment's Rocker. I chose this over the Rocker because the Alpha 2 has traditional camber underfoot which helps a lot for stability when you are carrying speed into a jump or charging a groomer. What separates this ski from others I have skied is that it is REALLY light and spins like nobodies business. You can definitely notice the "Elf Shoe Technology" (early rise tip and tail) helping out when buttering out of a landing or when in soft snow/chop/powder (the tips don't snag or sink).

My one gripe about the ski is that it has a smaller turning radius than I would prefer. I have the 182cm length and when I am pointing the skis straight at high speeds they wiggle a bit and if I put them on edge they want to pull you into sharp turns. I fixed this a bit by detuning the edges a fair amount.

The ski skis short and is super light so get bigger skis than you would normally. I came from 172cm head park skis to the Alpha 2s at 182cm and they feel easier to rotate with even though they are longer.

The Garbones rip! They are stiff as hell and have a huge turning radius, allowing some large and fast turns when they are opened up on the groomers. In the soft snow the early rise tip does a great job of keeping you afloat and the stiffness turns choppy snow into something worth riding. They are great for high speed riding and cliff hucking but if you were planning on doing much switch on these I wouldn't recommend it; the tail upturn is small and the tails are even stiffer than the fronts!

I was riding '05 Gotama 190s earlier that day and the difference was huge. They have very similar dimensions but the Gotamas are quite a bit softer flexing (though not noodles). The Garbones will force you to charge by keeping you on the balls of your feet and giving you instant response if you lean back. Be ready to re-learn to ski a bit if you are coming off of soft-tailed skis.

Oh, and they are really light! Good candidate for a hard-charging AT setup..